Monday, 8 February 2016

UAE Warns India: 'You're Not Immune To ISIS'

UAE Warns India: 'You're Not Immune To ISIS'

Abu Dhabi:
India is not immune to the threat from ISIS, the UAE's Minister of State
for Foreign Affairs, Anwar Gargash, has warned in exclusive interview
to NDTV in Abu Dhabi.

The UAE has been in forefront of the fight against ISIS, also known as Daesh.

Ahead of the visit to India this week of Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Sheikh
Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Dr Gargash told NDTV: "This is a long-term
threat we need to cooperate, need to have zero tolerance. There are no
grey areas, we need to tackle this threat and nobody is immune. If you
think you are immune, you are going to be negligent and you are going to
be hit. Everybody... whether India or the UAE."

India and the UAE have started a new strategic partnership after a
landmark visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Abu Dhabi in August,
which includes unprecedented cooperation on counter terrorism,
especially significant given that the UAE has traditionally been a close
ally of Pakistan.

Over the past year, about a dozen Indians with links to the ISIS have been deported from the UAE.

To a question on whether Pakistan was doing enough to crack down on
terror groups after the Pathankot terror attack, Dr Gargash said: "The
UAE doesn't see a grey area in our rejection of terrorism, whether by a
non-government group or whether sponsored by governments, we put all
that in the same pile, terrorism is terrorism." He added that "there are
no good terrorists and bad terrorists", and that states cannot
distinguish between different groups.

The Minister also described the global fight against ISIS as
"frustratingly slow". He said: "We need greater cooperation. Like in
Iraq, we want to see a more comprehensive approach. We can't
geographically identify areas and say, this area suffers from terrorism.
I can't come and say, if something happens in Mumbai, that it is out of
vision or sight. It is something that is related. Anti-ISIS needs a
ground component, not troops. UAE has always said we want to be a part
of this ground component... to train to lead. This is where is has been
frustratingly slow."

PM Modi visited UAE in August, becoming the first prime minister to do
so in three decades. During the visit, the oil-rich Gulf nation
announced it would invest $75 billion in Foreign Direct Investment in
infrastructure projects in India, but that seems to be taking time.

The minister said: "India is already an attractive investment
destination but we need to work together to cut some of the red tape,
make things smoother. India is a continent, not a country, if you read
India's political history, you know how complicated and intricate it is
so while you have to be patient, time is not on our side. I want to see
clearer laws, smoother implementation, greater foreign investment," he
said.